Hal Brett Needham (March 6, 1931 – October 25, 2013) was an American stuntman, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner.

He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981) and Stroker Ace (1983).

[2] Raised in Arkansas and Missouri, Needham served in the United States Army as a paratrooper during the Korean War, worked as a treetopper (an arborist who performs tree topping services),[3] and was a billboard model for Viceroy Cigarettes while beginning a career in Hollywood as a motion picture stuntman.

Needham trained under John Wayne's stunt double Chuck Roberson and quickly became one of the top stuntmen of the 1960s on such films as How the West Was Won, The Bridge at Remagen, McLintock!, The War Lord, and Little Big Man.

Needham moved out of stunt work, focusing his energy on the World Land Speed Record project that eventually became the Budweiser Rocket, driven by stuntman Stan Barrett.

The team failed to set an officially sanctioned World land speed record with the vehicle, and their claims to have broken the sound barrier in 1979 have been heavily disputed.